al Qaeda spasms, fits

al Qaeda spasms : Evidence ot its DEATH THROES.

aQ dying, spasms will include violent reactions, and desprate acts.
aQ training children are one of those spasms.
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Using mentally disabled also a spasm.
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Suicide Attack Targets Meeting Of Tribal Leaders BAGHDAD, Jan. 20 -- A 13-year-old boy wearing an explosives-packed vest blew himself up Sunday among a group of tribal leaders in the western prov...

By AP/CHRISTOPHER CHESTER (BAGHDAD) — A suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a high school north of Baghdad on Tuesday, wounding 22 people including teachers and students arriving for the begi...

a 6 year old child who was forced to put on a suicide vest and detonate it at a afghan checkpoint tells his tale. FORWARD OPERATING BASE THUNDER, Afghanistan - The story of a 6-year-old Afghan bo.

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 27 people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday when a suicide car bomber drove into a crowd of mourners at a funeral in Falluja, west of Baghdad, police said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visiting Golden Mosque in Samarra after it was bombed by terrorists. Scenes include aerial shots of the mosque and surrounding area, Prime Minister Maliki touring ...

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EXPECT FURTHER FITS OF VIOLENCE FROM AQ in its death throes.
More vile, barbarian and violent than ever before, as they realize they are loosing the support of the ummah.

6 years now, They are running out of troops and suicide bombers, resorting to children and the importing troops, currently recruiting in Libya.
And they will attempt to strike out at USA, conus.


Bill

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Update: 02.07.08

US sees shift in Muslim attitudes toward Al-Qaeda

by Jim Mannion 37 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US intelligence chiefs said Thursday they are seeing some signs that public opinion in the Muslim world is turning against Al-Qaeda.

They cited indications that donations to Al-Qaeda are falling off, unusual criticism of the group by other Muslim fundamentalists, and efforts by Al-Qaeda's leadership to reach out to the umma, the body of Muslim believers.

The shifting attitudes come despite other evidence that Al-Qaeda has gained strength in its safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas and are improving their ability to launch attacks in the west.

"We don't know if we've reached a tipping point yet. That's something were trying to get a focus on to get a feel for it," said Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence.

But he told lawmakers, "There are a number of positive signs."

McConnell pointed to the turnabout in Iraq's Al-Anbar province as the most dramatic example of Sunnis repudiating an Al-Qaeda affiliate with a resulting decline in sectarian violence.

Saudi Arabia's forceful response to extremist attacks in 2003 also has exerted pressure on Al-Qaeda and on the flow of donations to it from wealthy Arabs, he said.

"What we've noticed in the past year and two months is that Al-Qaeda has had difficulty in raising funds and sustaining itself," McConnell said.

General Michael Hayden, the CIA director, acknowledged that Muslim attitudes toward Al-Qaeda were "hard to measure."

But he pointed to a jihadist website's open invitation of questions for Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda's number two, as a possible sign that its leaders are worried about eroding public support in the Muslim world.

"To have people like bin Laden and Zawahiri governing by fiat as to what true Islam is, now being forced into a rather open dialogue with the umma, the body of believers, I think it is a remarkable step, and I don't think reflective of overconfidence on the part of Al-Qaeda now," Hayden said.

McConnell said US intelligence has noted that several Salafist groups, a fundamentalist Muslim branch that emulates Mohammed and his early followers, have recently denounced Al-Qaeda's actions.

"So that is another sign for us that the billion Muslims that practice their faith as good citizens are not for Al-Qaeda and that it's the extremist branch," he said.

On the other hand, McConnell acknowledged that Al-Qaeda has had unprecedented success in uniting Muslim extremists through the Internet.

"If you're even thinking about this you can sit down and find a website and start having dialogue and be recruited.

"So we have seen the group that perseveres in the FATA reach from Morocco all the way across to Afghanistan," he said, referring to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan where Al-Qaeda has found sanctuary.

Nevertheless, McConnell said, "It's my belief that at some point society will disenfranchise that extremist element and we'll see a tipping point going back in the other direction."
SOURCE:


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Iraqi SWAT team targets al-Qaida

We mentioned this inevitable switch.12/17/2007 09:19:00 PM

Published: Feb. 7, 2008 at 5:53 PM
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SALMAN PAK, Iraq, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A tactical Iraqi security force arrested 28 alleged militants in operations targeting al-Qaida in an area approximately 20 miles south of Baghdad.

An Iraqi SWAT unit under the supervision of U.S. Special Forces advisers launched an operation to capture an alleged al-Qaida commander suspected of overseeing militant activity near Salman Pak, Multi-National Forces-Iraq reported Wednesday.

Intelligence officials said the suspect financed operations to recruit foreign fighters to launch attacks against Iraqi security forces, citizens and U.S.-led forces using explosives and small-arms attacks.

The Iraqi team deployed from a helicopter landing zone and conducted clearing operations at multiple residences with U.S. forces.

The joint security team uncovered several munitions including a suicide vest, officials said.
SOURCE:

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Al-Qaeda tries to salvage image

By Charles Levinson, USA TODAY

MOSUL, Iraq — Al-Qaeda militants operating here have shifted tactics to try to improve their image among Iraqis and avoid the mass civilian killings that alienated the public in Baghdad and other cities, the U.S. military says.

The changes include warning locals to take cover before bomb attacks, relaxing the enforcement of strict Islamic laws and staging fewer attacks on Iraqi police.

The strategy has made the population of Mosul less likely to follow the example of Iraqis elsewhere who have turned on al-Qaeda, U.S. commanders say. U.S. and Iraqi forces may have to work harder to retake Iraq's third-largest city, which is the militant group's largest remaining urban stronghold.

'BAGHDAD MODEL': Mosul situation veers from campaign

"It appears (al-Qaeda) learned from their past mistakes," says Capt. Pat Ryan, an Army intelligence officer in Mosul.

President Bush has cited the recent shift in popular opinion against al-Qaeda as a major reason for declining violence in Iraq. In Baghdad and Anbar province, many former insurgents took up arms against the hard-line Islamic group out of frustration with its indiscriminate killing of civilians.

Lt. Jason Dickinson, the executive officer for a U.S. Army unit struggling to tame violence in Mosul, says al-Qaeda "pushed their luck a little too hard" in Baghdad but is more careful here.

"I don't believe you're going to see the same sort of night-and-day turnaround" against al-Qaeda in Mosul, he says.

There are as many as 30 attacks a day against U.S. and Iraqi forces in Mosul, according to the U.S. military. However, insurgents take precautions such as warning shopkeepers before bombings, Ryan says.

After a child was hit by a stray bullet during an attack against a U.S. patrol last month, local insurgent leaders moved quickly to rein in their members, according to intercepted al-Qaeda intelligence traffic. "The leadership was unhappy that it had gone that far that they had wounded the locals," Ryan says. "The traffic said, 'Take it back a notch. We need to make sure that the locals aren't getting too upset with us.' " Ryan declined to elaborate on how the information was gathered.

There have been few reports in Mosul of al-Qaeda trying to impose its extreme interpretation of Islamic law by beheading barbers for shaving beards or executing women accused of immodest behavior, says Lt. Col. Chris Johnson, who commands a battalion in charge of the eastern part of the city.

Although the tactics of insurgents here may have shifted, less cautious foreign al-Qaeda fighters have streamed into Mosul before a possible U.S.-Iraqi offensive, resulting in injuries to civilians.

Capt. Josh McLaughlin, operations officer for the Army battalion in eastern Mosul, said the increase in civilian casualties was "unfortunate," but he added, "That's the best way to get the population to say 'Enough is enough.' "

SOURCE

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Taliban, more desperate
By Ray Robison

American and Coalition forces have taken the initiative in Afghanistan, and have the Taliban on the run. Yet major American media outlets, to the extent they cover fighting in Afghanistan, are portraying the Taliban as "resurgent". Going on the offense and succeeding at it always increases violence. But is being spun onto bad news/

The increase in fighting in Afghanistan is not a sign of a stronger Taliban, but rather a more desperate one. Despite all the media reports to the contrary it is we who are surging in the war against the Taliban and al Qaeda.

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The Syrian government media is showing a toughening of its stance towards the situation in Lebanon and Gaza.....

The following are excerpts from several of these articles:


Teshreen: "The Resistance Has Begun to Establish Facts on the Ground"

Teshreen columnist 'Izz Al-Din Al-Darwish wrote: "...The Arabs are divided as a result of American pressure, and are afraid to utter even one word of solidarity, which has led them to forfeit their joint role and to leave the issues – including the most crucial ones – in the hands of others... However, despite this bleak situation, an Arab resistance has begun to establish facts on the ground and to change the course of events. There is no doubt that the first real step towards active Arab solidarity will be able to turn things around – and [this step] will come sooner than the U.S. and Israel expect."(1)

"The Arab League – A Lame Horse that Should be Put Down"
SOURCE:

Gerald has been forecasting al Qaeda's Doom, down hill, demise for a while:10/14/2007 07:42:00 PM

al Qaeda's paradigm failure and down fall:11/01/2007 01:14:00 AM
The turn around has been very quick, sudden and still not fully recognized, past two months.
aQ and the Taliban are experiencing it, going thru it and see it much clearer then other countries.
As time goes on it will become evident.
All the marks are there.

Participant observation, the "process" all point to this paradigm, news seems to confirm it.
Bots continue to collect evidence as it unfolds.

Gerald
Anthropologist
Indepth review:
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